


Dancing in Dust

by naberiie



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Borrower!AU, Gen, borrower!Gladio, borrower!Ignis, borrower!Noct, dove's got borrower!prom handled so, i'm scooping up these royal retinue lads, turning a shrink ray on em, ur turn to be tiny bois
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 09:46:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19743151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naberiie/pseuds/naberiie
Summary: Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum needs to learn what it means to be a Borrower.Prompto Argentum needs to clean his new apartment.





	Dancing in Dust

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably the most charming and most fun AU I've ever written for, I'm having so much fun ;; thanks for being such a good enabler Dove love u

King Regis of Insomnia-Under-City stared at his son across the room, and his son stared defiantly back, and the rest of the court stared at them both. In a court not known for a jovial, talkative nature, today’s silence seemed especially bitter.

Regis tried again. “Noctis, you need to see life outside the court-”

“I’ve been to the park, and I’ve seen the bean’s museum.” Noct squared his jaw, not about to accept his father’s decision without a fight, and next to him, Ignis gave a quiet sigh. “I’ve seen their library, too. _And_ a restaurant.”

“You’ve seen them, yes. You’ve seen them with heavy escort and months of scouting. However, you haven’t _borrowed_. You need experience with borrowing things yourself, without relying on servants to fetch what you need.”

Noct’s dark eyes flashed in annoyance, and Regis subtly stretched his bad leg, strapped into a brace of twisted paperclips and stuffed with cloth, to warn him not to say anything foolish. 

He did, anyways. “I don’t see the point! _You_ have people borrow for you, why do I have to do it?” He was very determinedly not looking at his father’s bad leg, the cane of carved oak twig rested against his throne.

At least Ignis and Gladio, on Noct’s other side, had the decency to look pained.

Over Regis’ shoulder, Clarus grunted and Regis waved permission for him to speak on his behalf. He was tired. He was just… tired. “Prince Noctis, you need to know the dangers of borrowing firsthand. Every time you send for something, someone risks their life to bring you what you ask of them. A cube of sugar, a piece of paper, even flowers. These things have prices, and you can’t ask others to risk what you refuse to risk yourself.” 

Noct’s jaw tightened, but Clarus’ words seemed to work where Regis’ logic hadn’t. The throne room of Insomnia-Under-City was never full of Borrowers - a bad idea to gather too many in one place, just in case a bean got wise - but to Regis, it still felt crowded. So he raised his hand and signaled dismissal. Without a word the court filed out, the light from the setting sun painting mosaics onto the rafters from the stained glass windows of the temple that served as the palace for Insomia-Under-City’s royal family.

Bit of an ironic name, that, given that the Regis’ throne room soared above even the bean King’s own throne room. The Caelum line had always had a sense of humor.

Noct waited until it was just his own retinue and his father’s, as the other members of the court disappeared into the walls of the old temple - one of the few that didn’t make use of a bell tower. Regis shifted on his throne of hammered gold bean coins as the evening’s service began. Thick prayers and low-sung hymns had concealed the borrower palace for centuries, and would continue to do so until the day the building fell. High in the rafters, the sound of bean singing wasn’t loud enough to drown out the smaller voices of the borrowers. Beans and Borrowers didn’t worship the same gods, but Regis still took comfort in the predictable rhythm of the beans’ schedule.

Noct shifted on the rug, twisting in such a way that Regis knew his back was bothering him, and not for the first time that day, his heart sank. Still, Noct had to learn what it truly meant to be a Borrower. 

Besides, he hadn’t seemed to realize that it would mean a break from his normal royal duties - an opportunity he always looked for. 

Regis smiled at his only son, and Noct crossed his arms in response. “Gladiolus Amicitia, Ignis Scientia.” They immediately straightened, and Regis couldn’t help but notice Clarus’ grunt of pride at his son’s immediate and proper response. “I hereby assign you with the charge of my son, Prince Noctis Lucis Caleum. You will accompany the Prince as advisers, protectors, and as friends. Please, instruct him in our ways. Show him how to borrow what he needs, and how to avoid detection.” He leveled a hard glare at the pair of them, and they met his eyes with far more confidence than his own son. “This will be a dangerous assignment. Do you accept?”

“Yes, my King,” they answered in tandem, and the look on Noct’s face was nothing less than betrayal. He scoffed, and Regis sensed that Noct’s patience with him was wearing very fine indeed.

“Excellent. Cor will escort the three of you and your supplies to a location he himself personally scouted for this purpose. He will give you more details along the way.”

Gladio nodded, his eyes sparking just like his mother’s did when she was eager to set off on a borrowing. Ignis’ cool look remained, but Regis knew the boy well enough to know that the adviser was already thinking three, four, five steps ahead.

Noct still just looked bitter, and angry, and his glare pierced Regis’ heart more than he wanted to admit. Once he was away from the temple, once he was away from the court, he’d start to see this assignment as the adventure it was. Noct was spoiled, but he would grow into it. Regis was absolutely sure of that.

Regis had barely nodded his dismissal before Noct turned on heels and strode towards the corridor painstakingly carved from the temple’s stone walls without another word. Gladio and Ignis started, gave quick, informal bows to the general direction of the throne, and followed their Prince.

When they were gone, Regis sighed and leaned heavily against the back of his throne. “Am I making the wrong move, Clarus?”

“No, sir. Noctis needs to learn how to borrow. How can he be a good King if he doesn’t know how our people live?”

Regis nodded, assured of his decision. Dust motes the size of his hand danced in the multi-colored citrus light of the sun through the stained glass, and the voices of the bean’s songs floated up through the rafters.

* * *

Prompto Argentum dropped the last of his stuff onto the dusty, scuffed floor of his new dorm room, and surveyed the scene. Senior status meant he had an entire suite to himself, and he put his hands on his hips as he declared out loud to the empty space, “Alright, awesome! More room for me, no roommates to worry about!”

The empty room that served as his kitchen, dining room, and lounge area echoed it hollowly back to him. His shoulders sagged, but he tried again: “Hell, I can even walk around naked if I want! Drink right of the carton! No rules here!”

That felt… well, not _better_ , but now the space didn’t feel quite as lonely. His apartment building was as old as Insomnia Uni itself, and Prompto wouldn’t be surprised if he had encounters with mice as the year went on. The walls were probably pockmarked with mouse tunnels - _ugh, no, don’t think about that yet._

Suddenly unwilling to start the long, long, _long_ process of unpacking and setting up his stuff, he strode to the bedroom and fell face first onto the bed. The semester would start in two weeks - special permission to move in early from the university was nice, but it did little to alleviate the pang of loneliness he was doing his very best to ignore - so he had plenty of time to unpack and get used to his new digs.

He fell asleep making plans for a celebratory photography excursion in the morning, his new apartment washed in the strange pastel blues of early evening.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](https://naberiie.tumblr.com/), [twitter](https://twitter.com/naberiie)


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